Contraction joint for roadways



-July 3, 1923. 1,460,841

B. BRIODY CONTRACTION JOINT FOR ROADWAYS Filed Aug. '7 1922 PatentedJuly 3, 1923.

UNITED sTATEs I I 1,460,841 PATENT OFFICE.

BERNARD BRIODY, F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO TRUSCON STEEL COMPANY,0F YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

CONTRACTION JOINT FOR ROAIDWAYS.

Appucamn mea august 1, 1922. semina. 580,299.

To all whom t may camera.'

Be it known that' I, BERNARD BmoDY, a citizen of the United States, andresiding at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have`invented a new and Im' .proved Contraction Joint for Roadways, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to concrete roadways and especiallyto means forpreventing lo the pavement from breaking along irregular lines, and itsobject is to provide means which will divide the concrete roadway slabsin such a manner that they will separate along straight andpredetermined lines, and

to provide means to prevent water filling the cracks should the slabbreak along the predetermined lines.

This invention consists of a strip of metal or other stiif materialpermanently embedded vertically in and extending longitudinally ortransversely of a concrete roadway. as may be desired, and being of lessdepth than the concrete slab and having its upper edge a distance belowthe upper surface of the slab, together with a removable strippositioned vertically above the permanent strip and extending down fromthe upper surface of the slab to the upper edge of the permanent strip.

It further consists in forming the removable member by folding a stripof sheet metal longitudinally to constitute a channel and forming one orboth sides of the channel with inwardly extending lugs which space thesides and which engage the upper edge of the permanent strip and supportthe removable strip.

It also consists in longitudinally corrugatf ing the permanent strip inorder to provide a' tongue-and-groove joint between adjacent ed es ofthe two sections of the roadway sla and in providing rods for holdingthis dividing member in upright position while the concrete is beinglaced around it.

It also-embraces t e process of constructing a roadway slab whichconsists in moulding concrete around a dividing member as abovedescribed until the upper surface of the concrete is flush with theupper edge of the upper removable member, and after the concrete has itsinitial set, removing the upper member and replacing it with a plasticmaterial such as asphalt, tar or the like to revent the entrance ofwater should the adjacent slabs separate.

It also consists in the details of construct1on lllustrated in theaccompanying drawmg Aand particularly pointed out in the claims.

v In the d rawing, Fig. 1 is a plan `of a roadway provlded withtransverse contraction jolnts. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a removableportlon of the contraction joint embodymg the present invention. Figs, 3and 4 are sections on the lines 3--3 and 4 4 of Fig. 2. Figs. 5 and 6are vertical sections of a roadway at right angles to one of theselmproved contraction joints, Fig. 5 showing thepermanent and removableparts of the divldmg member in position, and Fig. 6 showing theremovable member replaced by asphalt. Fig. 7 is a side elevation andFig. 8 a cross section of a modified form of removable member.

Similar reference characters refer to like parts throughout the severalviews.

A s also shown in my prior application Serlal Number 538,546, filedFebruary 23, 1922, the roadway 1 is formed by spreading a layer ofconcrete 3 over the sub-base 4 in the usual manner. Embedded intheconcrete longitudinally or transversely of the roadway is a strip formedfrom sheet metal, paper or other stiff material with vertical portions5, 6 and 7 and inclined portions 8 and 9. These corrugated strips may bemade of several pieces, if desired, the ends of the sectionsoverlapping, Holes may be made in the inclined portions 8 and 9 toreceive the pins or stakes 10 which position and sutpport these stripsuntil the concrete has se If there is any movement of the roadway byreason of frosts or otherwise, a crack will be formed along'above thisstrip, but the tongues 13 along the edge of one slab of concrete extendinto the channel formed in the adjacent edge of the other slab by meansof the parts 8, 6 and 9 of the strip, and this tongue-and-groove jointwill cause the upper 10o surface of the roadway to remain flat and toreturn to its original position after the cause of the movement haspassed. The shape of the channel is immaterial so long as the interlockis provided.

When a crack is formed in the roadway as just described, water is liableto enter and freeze during cold weather, resulting in the destruction ofadjacent parts ofthe roadway. To prevent this, a groove is formed 11o inthe roadwa by means of a removable strip, preferab y of greater widththan the upper edge 12 of the permanent strlp just described. Thisremovable device is preferably inthe form of a channel 13 having sides14 from which the lugs 15 may be struck up to fspace vthe sides of thechannel and to rest on the upper edge 12 of the permanent strip. Justafter the concrete has a permanent set, this strip is removed and aplastic material 16 such as asphalt, tar or the like is run into thegroove left by the removal of the channel. This plastic material willfill this groove at all times and prevent the entrance of water.

Instead of a channel, this removal member may be formed of two strips 17spaced by a narrower strip 18 and held together by the rivets 19. Thenarrow strip 18 and the rmanent stri determine the thickness of t econcrete sla The details of these metal members and their proportionsmay all be varied by those skilled in the art, without departing fromthe spirit of my invention as set forth in thev following claims.

I claim v 1. A dividing member for separatin adjacent slabs of concreteroadways an the like consisting of a permanent strip extending upwardfrom the lower face of the concrete roadway and a removable partextending from the upper surface of the roadway downward to thepermanent part.

2. A dividing member for separating adjacent slabs of concrete roadwaysand the like consisting of a permanent strip extending upward from thelower face of the concrete l roadway and a removable part extending fromthe upper surface of the roadway downward to the permanent part, saidremovable part consisting of a strip of sheet metal folded to form anarrow channel.

3. A dividing member for separatin adjacent slabs of concrete roadwaysan they ike consisting of a permanent strip extending upward from thelower face of the co-ncrete roadway and a removable part extending fromthe upper surface of the roadway downward to the permanent part, saidremovable lpart consisting of a strip of sheet metal fo ded to formanarrow channel, the sides of the channel having projections on theirinner faces adapted to space the sides and to rest on the upper edge ofthe permanent member. 4. A dividin member for separatin adjacent slabsof concrete roadways an the ike consistin of a permanent stri extendingupward om the lower face o the concrete roadway and a removable artextending from the up er surface of t e roadway downward to t epermanent part, said removable part, consisting of a strip of sheetmetal folded to form a narrow channel and said permanent strip beinlongitudinally corrugated, and bars exten lng through the permanentstrip into the foundation of the roadway.

5. A dividing member for separatin ladjacent slabs of concrete roadwaysan the.

like consisting of a permanent strip extending upward from the lowerface of the concrete roadway and a removable part extending from theuplper surface of the roadway downward to t e permanent part, saidremovable art consisting of a strip of sheet metal fol ed to form anarrow channel, said l permanent strip being channel shaped and j yformed with vertical alined holes in the walls of the channel, andsupporting stakes in saidvholes to hold the strips in position untilembedded in the concrete. l

6. The process of making aA contraction joint in a concrete roadway orthe like which consists in embedding a permanent metal strip in thelower part of the concrete slab and embedding a removable separator inthe upper part of the slab in vertical alinement with the lower stripand extending from the upper surface of the slab to the lower strip, and'replacing thel removable separator with an elastic material after theconcrete has set.

' BERNARD BRIODY. Witnesses:

E. H. DAVIS,

